Movie Review - Easy Rider

Easy Rider (1969) - The story of two free spirited drug dealers who think they've made the "big deal".  On two brand new motorcycles they head for Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  A classic "road" movie, Billy (Dennis Hopper) and "Captain America" (Peter Fonda) meet everyone from hippies at a commune, to an alcoholic lawyer (Jack Nicholson) looking to get out, to small town fear of those who are different.

You can't talk about pivotal movies of the late '60s - early 70s and not mention "Easy Rider".  It changed how the studios looked at making movies by taking a low budget production and showing that it could gain an audience and make money.  It took a couple classic movie formulas and used them to show the shape of America in that time and place.  Starring Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper (who are largely the creative team behind the movie.  They worked with screenwriter Terry Southern, Hopper directed it and the original idea was Fonda's) the movie is unpretentious and simple.  Part of that was that they never actually completed a script.  The topics and the visual style are very much of that time and place so periodically it feels dated or awkward.

At the same time there is a simple honesty to the movie.  The politics may seem naive to the jaundiced eye of the 21st Century but that naivete was very much a part of the Age of Aquarius.  Sadly some very good ideas were lost in the haze of poor execution and the active hostility of the contemporary culture.  Like the city kids trying to live a life of sharing and simplicity on the commune the ideas will die in the arid sands of reality.

This is a pivotal movie for two actors as well.  Dennis Hopper was on the verge of leaving acting when this one took off.  It is also the movie that pushed Jack Nicholson into stardom.  He's not in the movie for long but it's impossible to take your eyes off him when he's on screen.  The rambling conversations around the camp fires are amazing.  Even more so when you realize that legend claims they were largely made up on the spot.

There's really only one scene that lets the movie down.  That's the LSD scene in the cemetery.  At half the current length it would have been better.  Curious because the studio took an ax to the original cut (which apparently ran closer to 3 hours) and made it, even by Hopper's admission, vastly better.  They could have cut a little more IMO.

Don't bring a preconception to this one.  You may THINK you know "Easy Rider" but you just might be pleasantly surprised.

Rating - **** Recommended